I was just thinking about it today. Do characters need to have love interests? Would it depend on the character for them to have one? Are there times you feel one isn't need or they just served no real purpose?

It's cause they try to depict humans, do all of our love interests serve a real purpose other than being our love/crush/whatever?
Sometimes it advances the plot, sometimes they're there just because.
There's a lot of shows I can think of where it also seems like nobody in the entire show loves/dates anybody and the entire world is single xD

Just depends on what the writers are going for, if it's slice of life or suppose to be semi-realistic, it might just be there with no real point ever xD

It can make the plot more interesting, especially in novels and movies. As for anime, I usually like shipping characters so I appreciate love interests. But my favorite anime, Lucky Star, has no romance whatsoever.

I think they are IMPORTANT in the sense that they can offer a lot to the story and they are a very good way to bring in character development.

HOWEVER

If the love interest is put in for the simple sake of having a love interest, then it shouldn't be there. Its why I have a problem with shows like bleach having love interests. They hint at it a few times, but they never do anything with it. It adds nothing to the story in anyway and just looks like a lazy way to appease certain demographics. If you are going to have a love interest.

I don' think it's necessary. I am a big fan to those that don't.
But write me off though lol. Cuz I'm guilty of liking "Dark Heroes" the most.And they usually are feign of love interest.The people that follow them usually follow that common to at least a conscious degree.

Honestly and truly It depends though.Someone told me a concept once: "When people make characters. It's first derived off of actual life.Then cut down to the point they want them to be depicted/exist as".So if you take reality as a reference factor. There are lots of people who take interest in finding love.Of course though.Since they are fictional. They are controllable. It's also possible to cut relationship interest out of a characters agenda.

I find them to usually be "dark heroes"/anti heroes coincidentally
There are characters like
Guilty Gears Sol Badguy,Murder Princesses:Princess Falis(Switched),Or Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning that do fine with that concept.

oooh you're talking about in anime/stories... well, I know I almost always get annoyed with love interests in super hero movies and action shows. So.. no, they're not necessary, and they always exploit the hero's weakness, and that's really annoying.

Besides if I want to see romance I'll read/watch shoujo or teen novels. There's plenty of it out there, I don't see why it has to be in the other genres.

I've always been urked by needless romance, because it becomes cliche. The character's 'feelings' are usually transparent, their reactions predictable, and it only serves to drag the story down.

I think it's sometimes used as a way to give the main character a 'prize' of some kind; the beautiful girl who's respect the guy earns. The hot guy who finally notices the main heroine. No matter when it comes up, there is usually a much more important and urgent situation that most people would put over their love lives. So even if they were going off of human emotions, they'd still be messing up.

Not to mention, a lot of people never actually get with the person they want to. It'd be more true to human experience if some of these romantic plots ended on a slightly different note than the ones they've been playing so far.

It adds another aspect to their character, it is not always needed but can complement a character and make them more likable. This is not always the case though and it has to fit both the character and the anime itself or it just takes away from the overall quality